Table 1.

Characteristics and unadjusted diet quality score (Prime Diet Quality Screener [PDQS-30D]) of the sample of low-income adults in the United States between June 23 and July 1, 2020 (N = 1,739)

	n	%	PDQS-30D
			Mean	SD	Mina	Maxa	P valueb
Total	1,739	100	51.9	11.4	21	97	N/Ac
Sex and genderd
Male	838	48.2	52.2	11.5	24	97	Refe
Female	885	50.9	51.6	11.1	21	92	0.232
Transgender/non-binary/other	16	0.9	54.5	16.7	34	90	0.430
Age (y)
18-39	790	45.4	52.4	11.4	24	97	Ref
40-59	493	28.4	50.3	11.2	21	97	0.001
60+	456	26.2	52.9	11.4	25	92	0.491
Race and ethnicity
Non-Hispanic White	1,109	63.8	50.8	11.1	21	92	Ref
Non-Hispanic Black	193	11.1	52.3	10.8	28	97	0.092
Hispanic	250	14.4	53.2	11.3	30	88	0.002
Asian	114	6.6	58.2	12.0	29	97	< 0.0001
Otherf	73	4.2	53.8	12.7	33	92	0.043
Education
High school, GED or less	561	32.3	49.5	10.6	24	84	Ref
Some college	583	33.5	51.7	11.5	25	97	0.001
College degree or higher	595	34.2	54.4	11.4	21	97	< 0.0001
Employment
Full time	470	27.0	52.4	11.1	21	97	Ref
Part time	242	13.9	52.8	10.7	27	88	0.647
Unemployed, looking for work	285	16.4	51.7	11.6	29	97	0.434
Out of the labor force	742	42.7	51.5	11.6	21	92	0.189
College student
Yes	111	6.4	53.	11.	29	87	0.083
No	1,628	93.6	51.8	11.3	21	97	Ref
Annual household income
<$35,000	1,055	60.7	50.5	11.4	21	92	Ref
≥$35,000	684	39.3	54.1	10.9	26	97	< 0.0001
SNAP participation
Yes	522	30.0	49.5	10.4	21	84	< 0.0001
No	1,217	70.0	53.0	11.6	21	97	Ref
Marital status
Single	664	38.3	51.5	11.9	21	97	Ref
Married	534	30.8	53.6	11.4	27	97	0.002
Divorced, separated, widowed	352	20.3	51.3	10.7	21	85	0.846
Living with a partner	184	10.6	50.0	10.0	27	78	0.116
Household size
1-3 people	1,272	73.2	51.4	11.4	21	97	Ref
4 or more people	467	26.9	53.4	11.1	24	97	0.001
Children younger than 18 years in household
Yes	523	30.1	53.5	11.0	24	97	Ref
No	1,216	69.9	51.3	11.4	21	92	< 0.0001
Food security status
High	722	41.5	53.4	12.2	21	97	Ref
Marginal	266	15.3	52.3	11.4	26	87	0.183
Low	302	17.4	51.7	10.5	21	82	0.028
Very low	449	25.8	49.6	10.1	25	97	< 0.0001
Cooking dinner frequency (times/wk)
7	637	36.6	53.9	12.2	21	97	Ref
5-6	510	29.3	52.5	10.4	27	90	0.027
3-4	340	19.6	49.4	9.9	24	97	< 0.0001
0-2	252	14.5	49.2	11.5	21	86	< 0.0001

^aPossible range of scores for the PDQS-30D is 0 to 126. Higher scores indicate better diet quality.

^bP values from separate simple linear regressions with each categorical variable as the predictor and PDQS-30D score as the outcome.

^cN/A = not available.

^dSex and gender response options were included in the same survey question.

^eRef = reference category.

^fOther race and ethnicity category included Native American (n = 27), Pacific Islander (n = 3), Middle Eastern or North African (n = 8), or participants who entered text in the open response ‘Other’ category (n = 35). ‘Other’ included a variety of responses from participants primarily, but not exclusively, indicating multiple identities, including “mixed,” “multiethnic,” and “multiracial.” Text entries also included responses such as “Latin” or “Israelite,” “human,” or “Lebanese American.”